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TRUMP CAN’T SEEM TO GET OUT FROM UNDER HIS ETHANOL PROMISES: President Trump is only as good for farmers in Iowa as the “second promise” he keeps for the ethanol industry, say lobbyists for the corn-based fuel.
The first promise was securing a market for 15% ethanol blends to be sold all year. The second promise is making sure the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t upend the market for ethanol by approving 39 pending exemptions for the oil industry not to blend the renewable fuel.
That was the message the president heard from farmers and top officials, off-camera, when he was in Iowa earlier this week to give a victory speech on EPA’s approval of 15% ethanol blends for year-round use. Environmental restrictions had limited the fuel’s use to only 8 months out of the year.
“We could not have asked for a better E15 rule,” said Monte Shaw, CEO of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. But it is the “second promise” that the farmers in rural America are waiting on Trump to keep.
The industry believes the 15% ethanol rule would become immediately irrelevant if EPA grants the oil industry exemptions, which would reduce the market for the fuel by over one billion gallons.
Shaw sat down with EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in Iowa to explain what the industry and farmers expect from the administration.
He told John that farmers are willing to forgive the administration over the dozens of exemptions given to the oil industry under former EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Shaw said he wants to believe that those decisions were due to a “rogue” EPA administrator and did not have the consent of the president.
But after hearing from farmers, lawmakers, the governor, and others about the second promise, “whatever they do now is Trump, not EPA,” he said.
While Trump was meeting in Iowa, dozens of biofuel companies descended on Capitol Hill in support of a bill that would prevent EPA from approving unwarranted exemptions for the oil industry.
Oil refiners are required under the law, the Renewable Fuel Standard, to blend billions of gallons of ethanol and other renewable fuels each year into the nation’s fuel supply.
The renewable fuel industry wants to see the Trump administration make up for the previous losses they suffered from Pruitt’s refinery exemptions, while preventing any further exemptions from being issued.
The renewable fuel industry is expecting to see evidence of the administration’s commitment to making the industry whole as soon as next week, said Paul Winters, spokesman for the National Biodiesel Board, which organized this week’s lobbying campaign.
EPA’s annual renewable fuel blending requirements for 2020 are expected to be released as soon as next week.
“We will be looking to see whether EPA follows through on the President’s commitment to support growth of the biofuel industry,” said Winters. “Wheeler continually claims that the Courts and Congress have ordered him to give out the small refinery exemptions. We’ll be watching to ensure he properly accounts for them in the rule.”
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MILITARY RELEASES VIDEO SHOWING IRAN MAY HAVE MINED OIL TANKER: The U.S. military’s Central Command released a video Thursday night that showed an Iranian gun boat on the side of the Japanese oil tanker Kokuka Courageous, removing what the Navy labeled a mine.
The Japanese oil ship was one of two tankers that suffered damage from explosions in the Gulf of Oman near the heavily trafficked Strait of Hormuz. Photos of the apparent attack showed flames rising high above one of the vessels.
Reports suggest the video was meant to show the Iranians removing evidence after one such mine exploded disabling the tanker. A U.S. Navy patrol plane recorded the Iranian gunboat after the explosion had taken place.
The incident sent oil future prices rising over 2% offsetting price drops seen earlier in the week.
Pompeo blames Iran: The video was released after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers Thursday morning in the Gulf.
“Iran is lashing out because the regime wants our successful maximum pressure campaign lifted,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department. “The international community condemns Iran’s assault on the freedom of navigation and the targeting of innocent civilians.”
The explosions that rocked the two tankers, which are owned respectively by Norwegian and Japanese companies, took place almost exactly one month after four other vessels were struck in the Gulf of Oman.
PRO-SAUDI THINK TANK SAYS MORE ATTACKS FROM IRAN LIKELY: The Arabian Foundation, a pro-Saudi think tank in Washington, pointed to Iran as the culprit behind the oil tanker attacks on Thursday, alluding to the need for an international response in confronting the regime.
“These attacks and today’s violence appear to message Iran’s capacity to attack global energy markets,” wrote Norman Roule, a member of the Foundation’s advisory board, in a blog post. Roule had served three decades in the CIA’s Mideast programs office. “The attacks also likely indicate that the absence of a robust international response may have encouraged Iran to continue such operations,” he said.
“While direct US-Iranian tensions had recently declined in favor of diplomacy and public messaging, the threat of escalation remains high,” he added.
CNN posted an op-ed by the Foundation’s founder, Saudi national Ali Shihabi, earlier this month that said it is a “dangerous fallacy” to believe, as Trump administration critics do, that Iran is maturing into a responsible country, free from its revolutionary roots.
“While both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have repeatedly said they do not want war with Iran, they have strongly backed Washington’s decision to impose sweeping sanctions on the Islamic Republic until Iran’s leaders change their behavior,” Shihabit said.
PENCE, BERNHARDT PRESS CONGRESS FOR NATIONAL PARKS MAINTENANCE BILL: Vice President Mike Pence and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt pressed Congress Thursday to pass legislation paying for billions of dollars of repairs and maintenance in national parks with money the government collects from the development of oil, natural gas, wind, and solar on public lands.
The Interior Department has a $16 billion maintenance backlog. Of that amount, the National Park Service has the largest share, with nearly $12 billion for the nation’s 417 national park sites.
Pence and Bernhardt visited Yellowstone National Park — which has $500 million in maintenance needs — to make their case.
“We are calling on Congress to support on a bipartisan basis the Trump administration’s proposal to address this vital need,” Bernhardt said. “It’s time to act.”
Trump’s fiscal year 2019 budget request proposed creating the Public Lands Infrastructure Fund of up to $18 billion over 10 years for maintenance and improvements in national parks, wildlife refuges, and Bureau of Indian Education schools.
Bipartisan lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced similar legislation to spend energy production revenues on park repairs, but the chambers were not able to reach a consensus last session of Congress.
CLIMATE SOLUTIONS CAUCUS TO MAKE COMEBACK NEXT WEEK: Lawmakers next week will officially revive the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, Josh has learned.
A spokesman for Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., co-chairman of the caucus, confirmed the group’s comeback.
Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., created the Climate Solutions Caucus in February 2016 with Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., to “explore policy options that address the impacts, causes, and challenges of our changing climate.”
The Climate Solutions Caucus suffered huge losses of Republican members in November’s midterm elections, including Curbelo, who lost a competitive race in his left-leaning South Florida district.
But the remaining 20 or so GOP members who won re-election, led by Rooney, vowed to rebuild it rather than fold, as some Democratic critics would prefer. At its peak before the election, the caucus had 90 members, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
Rooney, who has introduced carbon tax legislation, previously told Josh he aims to impose standards on which members can join the caucus, in response to criticism from some Democrats accusing GOP members with poor environmental records of using the group as political cover.
CONSERVATION GROUP SUES TRUMP FOR NOT PROTECTING SEALS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE: The Center for Biological Diversity made good on its previous threat to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service if it did not put in place endangered species protections for two species of seals in Alaska.
Both bearded and ringed seals have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to the lack of sea ice in the Arctic blamed on climate change, the group explains in its lawsuit. It wants the federal government to take the next step in implementing a plan to protect the seals’ habitat.
“Ice seals’ homes are melting away while the Trump administration pretends global warming isn’t real,” said Emily Jeffers, staff attorney with the conservation group. “But the Endangered Species Act requires reality-based protection to prevent extinctions.”
Federal courts had rejected oil-industry challenges to the seals’ protections last year, while the administration delays enacting legally-required protections for the marine mammals’ habitat. The seals were first listed as threatened in 2012.
JOHN HICKENLOOPER’S CLIMATE PLAN INCLUDES CARBON TAX: Presidential candidate John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, released a plan to fight climate change that calls for Congress to pass a carbon tax that returns the revenue to taxpayers.
Hickenlooper is the third candidate in the Democratic field to explicitly endorse a carbon tax and dividend plan, following South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.
Hickenlooper’s plan would also have the U.S. rejoin the Paris agreement, mobilize $100 billion each year in climate financing for developing countries, partner with the private sector to create clean energy jobs, invest billions of dollars in transportation and grid infrastructure, and impose stronger building efficiency standards.
Hickenlooper’s centrist approach: Hickenlooper, who was once a geologist for an oil company, has worked cooperatively with industry, and is more centrist in his environmental approach than most of his competitors, many of whom have endorsed the Green New Deal.
Hickenlooper oversaw an oil and gas boom in Colorado. It became one of America’s top producing states. He also implemented the nation’s first, and toughest, restrictions in the nation on methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
“Hickenlooper would fight climate change the right way,” his campaign said in a Medium post. “Some other proposals include ideas that distract from addressing climate change directly, including a federal job guarantee for every American.”
MURKOWSKI, MANCHIN UNVEIL BILL TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY OF FEDERAL BUILDINGS: Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Joe Manchin, D-W.V., introduced legislation Thursday to establish energy and water usage reduction goals for federal buildings.
The bill by the leaders of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee would seek to reduce energy consumption 2.5% per year for 10 years beginning in 2020, and cut water use in federal buildings 54% by 2030.
Buildings account for about 40% of U.S. energy consumption, and roughly 70% of the country’s electricity consumption, according to Murkowski’s office. The federal government is the country’s top energy consumer.
BIPARTISAN LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE FINANCING BILL FOR CARBON CAPTURE: Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Ron Estes, R-Kan., introduced bicameral legislation Thursday that would update the tax code to allow carbon capture projects to be eligible for greater use of master limited partnerships.
Master limited partnership financing has supported more than $500 billion worth of U.S. oil and gas pipelines and some coal-related infrastructure, according to the Carbon Capture Coalition, a group endorsing the new legislation.
The Rundown
Reuters Business and pleasure: how Russian oil giant Rosneft uses its corporate jets
Stars and Stripes Not all bases factoring extreme weather, climate change into planning, GAO says
Washington Post Michigan authorities drop all criminal charges relating to Flint water crisis
Wall Street Journal Logs are littering California towns as trees are cut to prevent wildfires
Bloomberg Americans are paying more than ever to store deadly nuclear waste as plants shut down
Calendar
TUESDAY | June 18
9:30 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing to examine deferred maintenance needs and potential solutions on federal lands administered by the Department of the Interior and the USDA Forest Service.
WEDNESDAY | June 19
10:00 a.m., 366 Dirksen. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on a number of National Parks bills.
10:30 a.m., 2322 Rayburn. The Energy Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a legislative hearing on pipeline safety proposals. The hearing is entitled, “Legislative Solutions to Make Our Nation’s Pipelines Safer.”
THURSDAY | June 20
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds hearing to examine opportunities and challenges for advanced geothermal energy development in the United States.
